Deuteronomy 30:15 -20 & Luke 9:22-25
Choose life…
We often hear the saying: “Life is all about choices”, and indeed it is. Yet do we really consider the choices that we make? It is also true that the choices we make today have eternal consequences for ourselves and for others.” This should cause us to sit up and pay more attention to the choices that we make – even those that we consider to be small choices.
Lent is an appropriate time to examine our choices. Why do I do the things I do? Why do I say the things I say? Why do I think or feel the way that I do? Are my thoughts, my words, my actions and my feelings life-giving, to both myself and others?
Recall the words of Moses in today’s Reading… “I set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you AND your descendants may live.”
Jesus in the gospel, also invites us to examine our choices. He poses the question: “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself”. Am I choosing in such a way that I may be gaining many things… material goods, friends, fame; YET in the process I am losing myself, my family, and maybe even my faith.
Practical Suggestion:
Examine the choices that you have made recently, have they been life-giving? Have they led you closer to your family, have they led you closer to God.
Prayer:
Lord God, I thank you for the many opportunities that come to me each day. Help me to choose in a way that is pleasing to You and life-giving to others. Amen